Means for portaging guns



Nov. 29, 1938.

MEANS FOR PORTAGING GUNS Filed Jan. 25, 1937 IWVGWZLOP: I WL ZAeZm 'Fl ye 514 ,W

After 77813 w. FIGGE 2,138,229

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Patented Nov. 29, 1938 UNlT-ED" "STATES MEANS FOR PORTAGING GUN Wilhelm Figge, Dusseldorf, Germany, assignor to Rheinmetall-Borsig Aktiengesellschaft, Dusseldorf, Germany, a corporation of Germany Application January 25, 1937, Serial No. 122,304 In Germany March 18, 1936 2 Claims.

The invention relates to gun mounts adapted to be dismounted to form portable loads, and particularly to mountain guns which are normally drawn by, for instance, a tandem of horses, which pull between the shafts. For moving on narrow mountain paths the guns are dismounted to form portable loads, in order that they may be carried by men or by pack animals.

When so dismounted, the members forming the draft shaft are used as poles carried by men or .animals and the parts of the gun and carriage are suspended from these members by means of cords. With this arrangement the loads swing and thus imperil the porters and quickly tire them. In the case of animals too the arrangement is likewise When the loads are suspended by cords they hang far down and the poles must be raised unnecessarily high, and as the loads tend to swing to and fro it is extremely difiicult to fix them to a pack saddle.

The invention avoids these drawbacks. It renders it possible for the draft shaft or the separable members of the same to be connected rigidly to the individual dismounted parts of the gun for purposes of portage.

With this object in view the parts of the gun mount which are designed to form the separate loads are provided at suitable places with coupling members which are complementary to coupling devices on the individual poles which are employed to connect the draft shaft for normal service. That is to say, the same coupling means are used for fitting the pole in the gun and arranging .a pair thereof for normal traction purposes as for portage, when the means serve to couple the poles rigidly to the individual loads. The coupling members are preferably designed as bayonet joints which are so constructed that a rigid connection is not effected and. it is not possible for the load to be lifted before the coupling has been properly engaged and locked.

A typical embodiment of the invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawing in which- Fig. 1 shows a side view of a gun mount with the draft shaft fitted thereto in the normal arrangement for traction.

Fig. 2 is a coupling member in longitudinal section.

Fig. 3 shows a front view of the coupling member of Fig. 2.

Fig. 4 shows a complementary coupling member in longitudinal section.

Fig. 5 shows a front view of the member of Fig. 4.

Fig. 6 shows a gun cradle with two coupling members on each side thereof and Fig. 7 shows the cradle coupled on both sides with the draft shaft members or poles for portage purposes.

The draft shaft which serves for normal traction of the gun mount consists of the rod like members a1, a2, a3, a4 and the transverse member as, which are coupled as a whole with the gun carriage tail. All the individual or pole parts of the draft shaft 0.1 to as are provided at the different joints .with coupling members 1), D1 which together form a bayonet joint. For locking the members in coupling engagement there are provided spring-urged locking noses b2 (Fig. 4) on the coupling member In to engage in the groove in which is located in the other coupling member b.

The individual loads of the dismountable gun, for instance the cradle or slide 0 (Figs. 6 and 7) are provided at suitable locations with coupling members b, with which the poles or members an (12, as and at can be rigidly coupled by means of their complementary coupling member In. It will be seen that after the draft shaft members have been fixed to the cradle, the latter can be carried like a stretcher, or it can be raised quite easily on to the saddle of a pack animal where it can be fixed.

After the members coupled on one side of the cradle have been removed, the cradle while in the pack saddle can be turned or moved so that the toothed elements, which are a hindrance in loading, are always uppermost. When the individual loads are suspended by cords, as was hitherto usual, it was diflicult to adjust the loads to the best position on the saddle. The coupling together of the complementary members of the bayonet coupling is facilitated in known manner by a bolt be on the coupling member b which is adapted to enter a hole in the complementary coupling member In (Fig. 2). Now, in order to prevent a bayonet joint which has not been closed, from allowing the load to be suspended solely from the centering pins b3, these are designed with round heads. With these heads it is possible to lift the load only if the bayonet joint is at least partially closed.

The individual members of the dismountable limber may also be used as levers to assist in traversing the gun. To effect this one or more complementary coupling members similar to the coupling members on the parts of the gun which form the individual loads are fixed to the trail.

I claim:

1. In a gun mount, a draft shaft for normal coupling members for jointing and disjointinge said sections, and corresponding coupling members on the gun mount parts for rigidly connecting said parts with the carrying-poles for transporting the individual loads of the dismounted gun mount, said coupling members comprising parts of bayonet joints and having centering means with rounded heads adapted to facilitate the engagement of the coupling members of a joint.

T WILHELM FIGGE. 

